[H]GALAXY GeForce GTX 780 HOF Edition Review

[blackened23]

Alrighty. Ran some tests as everyone suggested. The previous pic is what I use in game. Not really stable in 3dmark. Benchmarks maxed out at about 1280MHz stable. Here is a pic of my most recent run in 3dmark. http://www.overclock.net/t/1418366/lightbox/post/20636044/id/1617514

Edit: I ran MSI Kombuster and Unigine Valley multiple times each.

1280 is still a pretty darn amazing OC, most 780s can't break 1200. Impressive 3dmark score as well.

I don't think 1300+ is easy without a bit of over voltage beyond 1.2V, though.

 

[Jaydip]

Nice clock, but valley is the worst offender for testing stability. I can get clocks in Valley that hold stable but fall apart in most every game I try to run at the same settings.

Metro:LL benchmark or Far Cry 3 are the best for seeing if your overclock is actually stable.

I don't have Metro LL and I uninstalled FC3 some time ago, I hope Metro 2033 would suffice

 

[Jaydip]

Jaydip, the clockspeed displayed within valley isn't accurate. Do you have any OSD type software like EVGA precision? Or MSI afterburner? Just go in the options and check-off which things you want to monitor like the memory speed, clockspeed, etc, and turn it on.

Also, that 1305 isn't technically possible with GK110, the 13mhz bins allow 1293, 1306, and 1319 since boosts are done in 13mhz increments.

It's a common error over at OCN, everyone has to show clockspeeds with precision or afterburner for verification. Valley always has a wrong clock for some reason. But, if you do get 1300mhz+ on your MSI card, that's pretty sick

Thanks blackened23, it seems valley is indeed showing wrong clocks :$
1300 here I come :biggrin:

edit: first attempt gpu clock 1202 Mhz, played remember me for hours without crashes,fingers crossed will aim for higher clocks

 

[TheMasterNoob]

FarCry 3 is a terrible benchmark. Every single OC I have tried has failed in that game. Tested the same OC in Last Light, Kombustor, Valley, and 3Dmark and it passed them all with no artifacting. So far only stock clocks seem to be working in FC3, for me at least.

Edit: Googling this seems to indicate that this is a common problem.

 

[Xed]

Wow, the lightning looks pretty hideous. Hope that cooler is a beast.

 

[Grooveriding]

Wow, the lightning looks pretty hideous. Hope that cooler is a beast.

Yeah it looks hideous. But waterblocks are already ready for sale once it's on the shelves.

 

[toyota]

why the short bus edition fan in the middle?

 

[chimaxi83]

What a disgusting looking cooler. What did they do to the beloved Lightning?!

 

[thilanliyan]

why the short bus edition fan in the middle?

Probably because they couldn't fit a bigger one there without making the card longer. I think one of my previous MSI cards had one of the fans smaller as well.

 

[blackened23]

What a disgusting looking cooler. What did they do to the beloved Lightning?!

Made it a triple fan SKU for the first time ever. Personally, I think the look is alright, it doesn't bother me - the fans aren't visible even with an open window case for me, so it's all good. Aside from the center fan it looks pretty similar to the 680 lightning.

The cooling should be insanely good since this is the first triple fan lightning, if i'm not mistaken. The 7970, 580 and 680 lightnings were double fan.

Sadly, I think MSI missed their window of opportunity. The asus DC2, classified, and other high end SKUs have been out for a while...this card should have been released like a month ago. In any case, I hope it performs as well as the 680 and 580 lightnings did. Should be a worthy challenger to the 780 classified, which (IMO) is the best 780 purchasable right now since it has options for voltage up to 1.35V and even higher with EVBot. Apparently the lightning is similar in that respect in terms of over-voltage.

 

[TheMasterNoob]

I will be buying a gtx lightning to sli with my hof. Only problem is I need a z77 matx board capable of supporting sli (x8/x8 speeds). Plan is to have the Hof in the bottom slot and the lightning in the top slot.

 

[CrazyElf]

There is a big difference between most 780s and a HOF card that can hit 1.3ghz on air and actually got o 1376mhz on air. Not to forget that out of the box it boosts to 1.1ghz. At that point this card is now approaching 50% faster than my overclocked 7970. I am getting a lot closer to my desire to have a card 70-80% faster to upgrade to. Also, what impresses me the most here is even if HD9970 catches up to the Titan, cards like the HOF have an additional 20% advantage over the Titan after overclocking. For enthusiasts then for 9970 to make a dent, it's not enough for it to simply catch up to after-market 780s in stock form. I am hoping AMD delivers a card 35% faster than HD7970GE at $550 so at least consumers have a choice between a cheaper stock card and a faster but more expensive overclocked NV card. This would be nice.

Yeah but there is one other consideration, it's not the 9970 reference that these 780s are going to be facing. By early 2014, we're going to be seeing cards like the 9970 Lightning. It looks like the Lightning is out. Some of the reviews are saying the middle fan isn't too useful though. We'll have to wait and see for more results though.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

What a disgusting looking cooler. What did they do to the beloved Lightning?!

They made it the "Gaming" edition.

I don't like the look either, but performance trumps all things imo (not that this is the cats meow there, just that I will exchange looks for performance all day everyday).


Reference is still my favorite look.

 

[luci5r]

Question:

Does anyone here OWN a Galaxy GTX 780 HOF? If yes, is it possible for you to give me an EXACT measurement of the WIDTH of the card; not the length or height, but the exact amount of SLOT Space it's going to take.

Most of these cards take 2 slots, but it looks like this one extends into a 3rd slot.

Newegg says 2.16" and Amazon says 2.2" ... I wanted to see what the accurate width it.

Thanks!!

 

[skipsneeky2]

What a disgusting looking cooler. What did they do to the beloved Lightning?!

They wanted to give it the look of a 727 jet,i kinda like it then its like hmm.